In Australia, any registered vet may legally perform surgery, and thousands of operations go beautifully in general practice every week. Specialists exist for a reason too, and they cost more. Here is an honest sorting of which operations belong where, and how to read the titles.
Every Australian vet is legally a "veterinary surgeon"; the word surgeon in the title does not mean surgical specialist. Registered specialists have completed years of additional supervised training and examination, and only they may use the protected title Specialist. Between the two sits a large group of experienced vets with real surgical caseloads and further qualifications. Ask which one is holding the scalpel; the answer changes both the odds and the price.
Desexing, most lump removals, dentistry with extractions, straightforward wound and abdominal work: general practice does these constantly, does them well, and charges accordingly. For these procedures a specialist referral usually buys little except distance and expense, and a good GP will say so themselves.
Send what your vet said and quoted. A veterinary surgeon reads it and comes back to you with what they can do and what it would cost, before you pay anything. A written second opinion is from $250.
Much of Australian surgery happens between the poles: GPs with decades of orthopaedic caseload, dedicated procedure clinics doing one operation at volume, and non specialist surgeons with genuine further training. Volume builds real skill, and this tier offers some of the best value in the system. The honest questions are the same ones always: how many of these do you do a year, what is your complication rate, and what is the plan when one happens.
Match the tier to the job, not to anxiety or to price alone: routine work with a good GP, high stakes work with the specialist, and the middle tier where volume and honesty check out. If you cannot tell which tier your pet's operation belongs in, that single question, asked of an independent surgeon with your pet's records, is one of the cheapest and highest value opinions we give.
For appropriate procedures with honest disclosure of experience, yes. The word attempt is doing the work: surgery that might need a specialist rescue mid operation, or a second anaesthetic for a redo, is often better referred first. Ask what happens if it proves harder than expected, and where.
For simple procedures, often yes, and good specialists send those back to general practice. For complex ones the gap buys measurable things: caseload, equipment, anaesthesia teams and ICU. The trick is being honest about which kind of procedure yours is.